Tuesday, 16 April 2013

Top 10 Brokers Pulled N290 billion Transactions on NSE in 3 Months

There are strong indications that trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) may have found its rhythm after what looked like a long spell following the 2008 capital market crisis that plagued the Nigerian stock market.

A breakdown of the performance of the top 10 brokers on the exchange for the first three months of the year showed a total transaction valued at N289,137billion as against N21,045 billion recorded by the top 10 stockbroking firms in the same time frame of last year 2012.

The top 10 stockbrokers accounted for 56.70 percent of the total value traded between January 1, 2013 and March 28, 2013.

Meanwhile, informed market watchers attributed the surge in the worth of transactions to a cocktail of measures put in place to revitalise the capital market. The measures are said to have attracted more foreign investors with the attendant increase in turnover.

According to the data on the performance of stockbrokers between January and March, obtained from the website of the stock exchange at the weekend, Stanbic IBTC Stockbrokers Limited topped the table with transactions valued at N83,802,402,588.57, translating into 16.43 per cent of the total transactions within the three month period.

Next in ranking was Rencap Securities (Nig) Limited, which did transactions valued at N79,877,299,390.77, a 15.66 percentage of the total value.

CSL Stockbrokers Limited came third with N33,093,237,809.18 worth of transaction within the first three months of the year, translating into a 6.49 percent.

Fourth on the table was FBN Securities Limited, which recorded transactions worth N18,486,389,566.50 and which amounted to 3.62 percent of the total transactions for the three months.

On the table also was BGL Securities Limited, which came fifth with a N14,886,583,377.34 transaction worth 2.92 percent. Next in ranking was Cardos Capital Limited with did transactions worth N13,991,482,588.11, amounting to a 2.74 percent.

Chapel Denham, which came seventh recorded transactions valued at N13,806,612,919.20 and this translated into 2.71percent.

Also on the table was Partnership Investment Company Limited, which did a business of N11,036,342,528.18, translating into 2.16 percent of the total transactions on the exchange between January and March.

Ninth on the table was Zenith Securities Limited, which did transactions worth N10,491,439,308.49 and this was 2.06 percent of the total value.

Vetiva Securities Limited came last on the table of the top 10 stockbroking firms on the exchange with transactions worth N9,667,242,523.55, a 1.90 percent.

The development is coming on the heels of a 19 percent growth recorded by the Nigerian equities market in the first quarter of the year, showing a significant improvement on the 0.8 per cent negative performance recorded in the first quarter of 2012.

Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Nigeria Limited, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, said the difference between last year and this year’s performances was caused by a combination of the increase in turnover on the exchange, increased portfolio investment and improved performance of quoted companies on the exchange.

According to Rewane, average daily turnover on the bourse in 2012 was N2billion as against N6 billion between January and March this year.

He added that more international investors had been showing interest in the Nigerian equities market, a development he attributed for the high volume.

The FDC boss said some of the 2012 financial reports declared so far by quoted firms were positive thereby increasing investors’ appetite.

He however, explained that on the whole, the leap in volume has not translated into better returns for the brokers in view of the downward review of brokers fees this year. He disclosed that unlike in previous years, brokers fees have been slashed by 25 percent, adding that what it means is that the brokers have to double their activities before they can break even.

Specifically, the NSE All-Share Index (ASI), which measure the aggregate growth of prices on the bourse, appreciated by 19 per cent in the first three months.

Year-on-year, the ASI, has recorded a growth of 62 per cent, rising from 20,652.47 end of March 2012 to 33,536.35 as at the end of March this year.